August 14, 2013

India: Suspected MERS case in Mumbai

MUMBAI: In the first suspected case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the city, a Vashi resident has been quarantined at Kasturba Hospital in Chinchpokli.

The viral respiratory illness, termed deadly because of a 60% mortality rate, is currently wreaking havoc in Gulf countries.

The 40-year-old man was admitted to the hospital's ward 30, meant for infectious diseases, on Wednesday afternoon with complaints of fever and a progressing pneumonia (inflammation of lungs). The patient had returned to India on August 12 after spending 35 days in Saudi Arabia.

Of the 46 deaths due to MERS-CoV reported globally, a majority were from Saudi Arabia, where the virus had first emerged in 2012.

The Vashi resident had contacted a local physician in Navi Mumbai after his fever did not subside for almost a week.

In most cases detected globally, MERS-CoV has been found to cause a lung infection. Fever with chills, cough, breathing problems and gastrointestinal ailments were some of the other symptoms. While the Vashi resident had pneumonia in the left lung, he did not show any signs of breathlessness.

After the patient tested negative for H1N1, doctors suspected that he had caught the virus during his stay in Saudi Arabia. His samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

A civic official said, "The patient has been started on antiviral oseltamivir. He is responding well to medication." The NIV report is expected to arrive by Friday.

Executive health officer Dr Arun Bamne said the patient was doing well. "He is not critical and we have kept him in isolation for observation," he added. The patient does not live with his family, another civic official said.

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MUMBAI: In the first suspected case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the city, a Vashi resident has been quarantined at Kasturba Hospital in Chinchpokli.

The viral respiratory illness, termed deadly because of a 60% mortality rate, is currently wreaking havoc in Gulf countries.

The 40-year-old man was admitted to the hospital's ward 30, meant for infectious diseases, on Wednesday afternoon with complaints of fever and a progressing pneumonia (inflammation of lungs). The patient had returned to India on August 12 after spending 35 days in Saudi Arabia.

Of the 46 deaths due to MERS-CoV reported globally, a majority were from Saudi Arabia, where the virus had first emerged in 2012.

The Vashi resident had contacted a local physician in Navi Mumbai after his fever did not subside for almost a week.

In most cases detected globally, MERS-CoV has been found to cause a lung infection. Fever with chills, cough, breathing problems and gastrointestinal ailments were some of the other symptoms. While the Vashi resident had pneumonia in the left lung, he did not show any signs of breathlessness.

After the patient tested negative for H1N1, doctors suspected that he had caught the virus during his stay in Saudi Arabia. His samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

A civic official said, "The patient has been started on antiviral oseltamivir. He is responding well to medication." The NIV report is expected to arrive by Friday.

Executive health officer Dr Arun Bamne said the patient was doing well. "He is not critical and we have kept him in isolation for observation," he added. The patient does not live with his family, another civic official said.